Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Religious Right Leader Wants to Educate Away the Gay

A religious right leader delivered a message on the Piers Morgan show that should surprise no one, saying that gay people don’t deserve equal rights because being gay “ceases procreation” and that the educational system should be reformed to make sure no one becomes gay. Did I mention that the religious right leader in question is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

nice to see that people like Ahmadinejad, Pope Benny (‘cepting priests of course), Ralph Reed, and all of those other wannabee theocrats would claim that anyone who doesn’t breed deserves no rights.
What they really mean of course is *anyone* disagreeing with them deserve no rights at all.

saying that gay people don’t deserve equal rights because being gay “ceases procreation”

Which it doesn’t. Plenty of gay people have families.

In authoritarian environments, males frequently get married to women for appearances sake (or to keep from being persecuted or killed). Karl Rove’s father was…gay.

It can be hard on the woman though.

A letter from a woman who found out her husband is gay « The Arab …
thearabobserver. wordpress.com/…/a-letter-from-a-woman-who-foun…

12 Feb 2012 – A letter from a woman who found out her husband is gay … What husband would ask his wife to sleep with other men if she wants? ….. There are not enough words to describe the devastation this has had on my life, or the …

Here’s my prediction: we won’t be running out of heterosexuals any time soon, and they’ll continue to breed. So will some homosexuals, by the way. I’d be happy to introduce Ahmadenijad to a lovely lesbian couple down the street from me that has reproduced twice, with the help of sperm donations from a gay man.
If he — or anyone else — doubts my prediction, I’ll take bets.

This is why our media is inept. Why don’t they ask Santorum or Paul Ryan if he agrees with Ahmadinejad in this respect, and whether he can work with him now that they have some common ground. Common ground that he does not share with Gary Johnson or Obama.

It is indeed beyond passing strange that the fundagelicals complain loud and vociferous about, yet have so much fear and angst over a foreign power that worships a different sky fairy, yet their characters are identical.
it would seem there is a little jealousy in the mix here, the repression and woo fixated culture of one forming an inspiration and deepest desire of the other.

I do but believe the fundagelicals protesteth to much…that is their deepest and most fervent craving for a society based on patriarchy and a supernatural bogieman.

The fundagelical motto should indeed be a Robbie Burns homily…

“Oh the gift that God would give us to see ourselves as others see us.”

We see them for exactly as the repressed and sexually dysfunctional, intellectually bankrupt, ignorant bigots they are, but they have not a clue, they do however recognize those traits in others, that is after-all how they coalesce like moths around the flame of ‘cretinous dumbfucks for jebus’ in the first place.
They are just extremely confused, and obviously hate what they themselves are, sad really, their blindness about themselves is self induced, that is a measure of their internal fear & inadequacy and that is apparently all consuming, cognitive dissonance does the rest.

It’s an interesting read … quite how a howlingly full-metal-burqah Islamic nation decided that boys can be girls as long as they get the chop is one of those hard to answer questions. And then you find that the main instigator and inspiration for the program was Ayatollah Khomeini. Yes, THAT Ayatollah Khomeini.

One of the first things I noticed about IdreamofJeanie’sdad when he first opened his piehole on the international scene was how easy it would be for Jurgen Prochnow to play the role in the biopic (Morgan Freeman could do Kofi Annan)with no makeup and a few days without any sleep.

IdreamofJeanie’sdad is not speaking for the Supreme Leader (or whatever the fuck they’re calling him this week) OR the Iranian people. He’s like the crazy uncle that everybody wants to NOT invite to family events but has a little secret fear that they may be in his slippers some day.

His finger is not, nor has it ever been, afaia, on the conventional war “GO” button, nevermind the Nu’q’Lar button. slc1 may have better intel on this but I don’t think Ahole is in any genuine command position.

Gender identity isn’t the same as sexual orientation. Transgender people can be straight, gay, bisexual etc.

You’re right in that the Iranian regime is supportive of sex reassignment for people they deem transgender, which seems very progressive compared to other religious regimes. The problem is that they’re forcing some gay people to undergo sex reassignment when they really don’t want or need to.

His finger is not, nor has it ever been, afaia, on the conventional war “GO” button, nevermind the Nu’q’Lar button. slc1 may have better intel on this but I don’t think Ahole is in any genuine command position.

It is my information that this is true. The man calling the shots in Iran is the Ayatollah Khamenei. However, this must be said about Ahmadinejad. Unlike the ayatollahs who don’t know their collective asses from a hole in the ground, Ahmadinejad actually has a secular education, having graduated from college with a degree in transportation engineering. This just goes to show that having a legitimate degree is no guarantee that the recipient is a sensible person (Mitt Romney anyone)

Note I am not excusing the regressive and crazy “Pray Away the Gay movement” or anything like that.

I’m just noting that rigid, politicized “identities” don’t always reflect how people live their lives or see themselves. Often due to oppressive religious mindsets or cultures… of course. I recommend various posts here: He is an excellent writerwho is somewhat skeptical about some of the claims. (He also dislikes Barack Obama, so you will probably be offended here)